Account for days with abnormal contact volumes
Use the Special Events page to create and manage special events and assign them to service queues. A special event is a type of event that causes contact volume to deviate from normal. The special event can cause volume to either increase or decrease. When you assign a special event to a service queue, WFM makes adjustments for the effect of the special event by removing it from distributions and normalizing it in forecasts.
When examining a historical special event, consider the following:
- Which service queue does the special event affect? A special event is always related to a service queue.
- What type of event is this special event? You can configure generic types of special events with default values. Once you create a generic special event, you can select it from a list of available special event types whenever you need it.
- When does the special event occur?
- How many days after the special event does the contact volume impact appear? The impact of a power outage is immediate. The impact of a bill-format change happens after the postal service delivers the bills and the customers open the mail.
- How long does the contact volume impact last in days? The impact of a power outage might only last a day, if service is restored during that time. The impact of a bill format change is likely to endure for a number of days, because customers handle bills at different times.
- What was the impact ratio? This is determined by dividing the contact volume that occurred with the special event by the contact volume that would most likely occur in the absence of the special event.
Impact on distribution requests
If the reference period you specify in a distribution request includes a special event, the special event date is excluded from the reference period. This ensures that the abnormal contact patterns (including contact handle times) on the special event day do not affect the contact distribution patterns.
EXAMPLE Consider a power outage that causes the daily contact volume to be halved: it is normal in the morning but goes to zero in the afternoon. A special event with an impact ratio of 0.5 is created. The date of this special event, if part of a reference period, will be excluded from that reference period.
Impact on forecast requests
If the reference period you specify in a forecast request includes a special event, the normalized contact volume is calculated by dividing the actual contact volume on the special event day by the impact factor. That is:
normalized contact volume = actual contact volume on special event date ÷ impact factor
In the power-outage example, let us say that the actual contact volume on the day the power outage occurred was 5,000 contacts. The power outage special event has an impact factor of 0.5. Using the above equation:
normalized contact volume = 5,000 ÷ 0.5 = 10,000
The contact volume in the reference period has been normalized to 10,000 contacts to compensate for the effect of the special event, which makes the forecast more accurate.
Limitations of special events
Special events are used to negate the effects of a sudden and nonrepeating change in the contact volume in the past to ensure that forecasts do not include these anomalies.
Special events cannot be used to predict changes in contact volume due to future events, such as an upcoming marketing campaign. These types of events can be accommodated either automatically or manually during the forecasting process.
Field descriptions
The fields on the page when you create, edit, or delete a special event are described below.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Special Event Name | A name for the special event. Maximum characters = 50. |
| Impact Delay | The delay in whole days between the special event’s occurrence and when it actually affects the contact center. Default value = 0. |
| Impact Duration | The number of whole days you expect the effects of the special event to last. Default value = 1. |
| Impact Ratio |
The impact of the special event on normal contact volume. Default value = 1. |
The fields on the page when you assign a special event to a service queue are described below.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Service Queue | Select the service queue to which you want to assign the special event. |
| Special Event | Select the special event to which you want to assign to the service queue. |
| Event Date | Select the date of the special event. |
| Impact Delay | This field is autofilled with the value configured for the special event. You can change it if desired. |
| Impact Duration | This field is autofilled with the value configured for the special event. You can change it if desired. |
| Impact Ratio |
This field is autofilled with the value configured for the special event. You can change it if desired. |
| Comment | (Optional) Comment about the special event. |
| Assign button | Click this button to assign the event to the service queue. It is added to the Assigned Events table. |
| Delete button | Click this button to delete the selected special event from the Assigned Events table. |